On Saturday a group of us got together for the first big battle with our Mexican - American War figures. We started the project late last summer (I talked about it some in this blog post) and there was a smaller battle in February (from Kevin’s blog), but this was the first time most of us had gotten figures on the table. We were using the Rebels and Patriots rules from Osprey for the game.
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U.S. Dragoons charge Mexican artillery at Resaca de la Palma (U.S. Army in Action series from wikimedia commons)
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I set up a game area loosely based on the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. We had six players, three on each side. The Mexican left set up to defend a small trail, the Mexican center was on the southern side of the Resacas, near the small hacienda, and the right was set up in front of the Americans. On the American side, the right flank set up to engage the Mexicans defending the trail, the left flank moved to engage the Mexican right, and the center group (me) was split between the two.
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Initial setup for the Mexican left
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View from the Mexican center
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The game started inauspiciously for the Americans, with my first activation roll for my artillery went badly, forcing my artillery to shoot at American troops (I only caused 2 casualties, but at the end of turn 1 I was the best Mexican General).
The Mexican left played aggressively on the trail, trying to cross the resacas. This tied up the American right flank troops and some of mine. The Mexican right effectively stood their ground, inflicting casualties as the Americans advanced
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Americans attacking the trail defenders
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Americans moving up the road
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Fairly early in the game the Mexican right rolled a double activation and used his light cavalry to charge my artillery. The cavalry killed forced me back with no losses. But the next turn my gun did some damage and then the American dragoons finished them off.
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Mexican light cavalry on the charge
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The Mexican center patiently waited for the Americans to come into range.
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Mexican center waiting for the Americans
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While the Mexican left tried to advance but was met with a steady wall of firepower from the Americans.
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Mexicans advancing up the trail
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Americans taking on the Mexican left
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More fighting near the trail
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The Americans continued to move up on their left and center. I had difficulty with my activations most of the day (I even rolled another friendly fire incident with some of my infantry firing on my artillery). I did get a few good hits in, but could never force the Mexicans back, they always bent instead of breaking.
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Americans advancing into the Mexican right
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More Americans trying to get into action
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The Mexican right waits for the Americans
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As we were approaching the end of the game, the Mexican cavalry in the center tried to charge my disordered infantry but came up just short and then stalled while I rolled off my disorder and shot up the cavalry with infantry and artillery, forcing them to retreat.
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Mexican center sniping at the Americans
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Mexican cavalry barely fails to make contact
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American fire drives off the cavalry
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On the American right (Mexican left) the American finally cleared out the trail. But the Americans were not able to clear out the crossing with the main road.
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The Americans clear out the trail
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Game end, the Mexican still hold the main road
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The Mexican right and left were pretty decimated at the end of the game, but the Mexicans held all the objectives. So, it was a Pyrrhic victory for the Mexicans.
Overall, the game played well. The Americans are sort of squeezed at the start, but the Mexicans have a lot of area to defend. We did use equal forces, which gave the Mexicans an advantage (most Rebels and Patriots scenarios only give the on-board defenders 2/3s of the attacking force points). But even with that everyone seemed to think it was worth trying again sometime.
It was fun to see a project start and come to fruition before petering out. I expect we’ll see these troops out again for some more battles.
